SULLIVAN TAKETA - Key Persons
Mr. Le represents clients in business litigation, employment litigation, real estate litigation (including eminent domain and easement issues), and appellate matters in both federal and state courts. He is experienced in representing public utilities in cases involving telecommunications issues. He also advises clients on intellectual property (copyright and trademark) matters.
Mr. Le was formerly associated with Nordman Cormany Hair & Compton LLP in Oxnard. Prior to that, he was a staff attorney for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. Immediately after his admission to practice law, he was associated with Girardi & Keese in Los Angeles. During law school, he completed legal externships with the United States District Court, Central District of California, the Court of Appeal of the State of California (Second Appellate District, Division Two), and the Legal Corps of Los Angeles.
Mr. Taketa represents clients in business litigation and commercial transactions, with a specialty in labor and employment, real estate and appellate matters in both federal and state courts. Prior to founding Sullivan Taketa LLP, Mr. Taketa served as corporate litigation counsel in the GTE Legal Department, handling general corporate matters with an emphasis on defending management in employment and class action litigation as well as conducting internal legal compliance investigations and prosecuting theft-recovery actions. At GTE and Verizon, Mr. Taketa attained an impressive record in the successful defense of varied and novel employment disputes, including same sex harassment and other forms of employment discrimination, defamation, wage and hour, invasion of privacy, and retaliation claims. Mr. Taketa has also successfully defended Verizon in a variety of California real estate related litigation, including numerous mechanics' liens, surety claims, environmental remediation and eminent domain actions.
Prior to serving in-house at GTE and Verizon, Mr. Taketa was in private practice with the New York based law firm, Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler, where he handled complex commercial transactions and litigation matters for a variety of clients, including financial institutions, commercial developers and several Fortune 50 companies, as well as serving as General Counsel for U.S. Water Polo, Inc. In the years immediately after his admission to practice law, Mr. Taketa was at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, where he was a transactional attorney handling a variety of complex commercial leasing, construction loans, oil and gas interest transfers, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate law matters. Mr. Taketa is a conscientious and thorough professional who has a demonstrated track record of client satisfaction for providing high quality and cost effective legal services. Mr. Taketa's current practice also includes assisting employers in complying with state and federal law, preparing effective personnel policies and manuals, and conducting workplace harassment investigations.
Mr. Taketa was selected as one of Southern California's Super Lawyers in 2004, and has been selected to appear in several Who's Who for outstanding professional achievements. In addition, he was recently named as trial lawyer of the year for 2012 by the Ventura County Trial Lawyers Association.
Mr. Galbraith graduated with highest honors from Cambridge University, England, majoring in French and German literature. At Oxford University, England, he completed a second undergraduate degree in philosophy and theology, as well as a master's degree in European literature. Mr. Galbraith completed the first year of a law degree at BPP Law School in London, winning the Moot Court competition, before moving to California and attending Ventura College of Law. He received his J.D. in 2006, having again won the Moot Court competition, and graduated first in his class.
Prior to joining Sullivan Taketa LLP, Mr. Galbraith worked at personal injury firm, and at a firm that focused on litigating federal civil rights claims. Mr. Galbraith is fluent in German, and has lived and worked in Austria.
Mr. Villaseñor has successfully represented a variety of clients in litigation in both federal and state courts, as well as before regulatory agencies. Mr. Villaseñor's practice focuses on complex business and employment litigation, particularly in the areas of unfair business practices, harassment/discrimination, and wage and hour lawsuits. He also handles litigation involving public utilities, including alleged unfair debt collection practices, power-burn damages, catastrophic personal injury, and eminent domain cases.
In addition to his work as an attorney, Mr. Villaseñor is involved in a number of legal organizations. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Villaseñor served as District Representative (Southern California) at the ABA's Young Lawyers Division, and was named Star of the Quarter for his pro bono work coordinating the Disaster Legal Services program for victims of the 2007 wildfires in San Diego County. From 2006 to 2008, Mr. Villãsenor served on the California Young Lawyers Association as District Representative for Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties, and on CYLA's Executive Committee. In 2004, Mr. Villaseñor was selected to be one of the inaugural Scholars in the State Bar of California's Access and Fairness Leadership Academy, a pilot program to provide leadership training to promising young attorneys. Mr. Villaseñor has also served on the Board of Directors of the Ventura County Bar Association and the Ventura County Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Villaseñor is currently Chair of the Hispanic National Bar Association's 2010 Moot Court program, and serves on the planning committee for the HNBA's 2010 Mid-Year Meeting.
Mr. Villaseñor graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, where he was on the Dean's List and an editor at The Harvard Crimson. He subsequently attended the UCLA School of Law, where he received the American Jurisprudence Award in Professional Responsibility and was on the Executive Board of the school's Moot Court program. Prior to joining Sullivan Taketa LLP, Mr. Villaseñor worked for the office of the Oxnard City Attorney, DreamWorks SKG, the Ventura County Superior Court, and the Paris office of Coudert Brothers.
Mr. Villaseñor is fluent in Spanish, French and Italian, and has lived and worked in several countries, including Mexico, France, and Switzerland.
Mr. Sullivan counsels and represents clients in all areas of complex employment and business litigation before both federal and state trial and appellate courts. Additionally, he represents selected clients with personal injury claims, particularly claims requiring counsel with broad litigation experience in multiple jurisdictions. He has had over 35 years of general, government, business, and employment litigation experience representing a wide variety of clients. His trial experience includes employment litigation, federal tort and contract litigation, aviation and maritime liability, products liability, securities fraud litigation, public utilities regulatory cases, personal injury and other complex litigation. Mr. Sullivan also serves as an arbitrator and mediator for ARC (Advanced Resolution Centers, Los Angeles), bringing the benefit of his extensive litigation experience to business and employment law disputes. Mr. Sullivan has appeared in California state court proceedings as an expert witness on human resources investigations. Prior to the founding of the firm, Mr. Sullivan held various senior positions within the legal department of GTE Corporation while also serving as an active judge advocate in the U.S. Naval Reserve Law Program. His assignments within GTE included appointment as the Vice President & General Counsel for GTE Airfone Incorporated and service as the corporate officer responsible for the management of all litigation involving GTE California Incorporated and its successor-by-merger, Verizon California Inc. During his tenure at GTE, Mr. Sullivan was the lead trial and appellate counsel in numerous employment law cases, including Cammack v. GTE California Inc., 48 Cal.App.4th 207 (1996), Penter v. General Tel. Co. of California, 952 F.2d 1399 (9th Cir. 1992), Schlacter-Jones v. General Telephone Co. of California, 936 F.2d 435 (9th Cir. 1991), Penter v. Mobil Oil, 813 F.2d 408 (9th Cir 1987), O'Shea v. General Telephone Co. of California, 193 Cal.App.3d 1040 (1987), Bale v. General Telephone Co., 795 F.2d 775 (9th Cir. 1986), Pickrel v. General Telephone Company of California, 208 Cal.App.3d 1058 (1988), General Telephone Co. of Michigan v. NLRB, 217 U.S. App. D.C. 360, 672 F.2d 894 (D.C. Cir. 1981), Fisher v. General Telephone Co. of the Northwest, 510 F. Supp. 347 (ED Mich. 1980)
Mr. Sullivan is a past president of the California Employment Law Council and has been an employment law lecturer to lawyers and human resource specialists, and to military lawyers and human resource specialists. He has served as the Assistant Special Counsel to the Secretary of the Navy and supervised the Hawaii - California region of the Naval Reserve Law Program. In his role as a Naval Reserve Law Program senior judge advocate, Mr. Sullivan provided civil claims advice to the senior staffs of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Command, particularly in aviation and maritime tort claims. His Naval Reserve career included service as the senior Naval Reserve judge advocate for the Western United States and Hawaii.